So where I play the local meta has a lot of swarm use, and I am having a lot of trouble with it. I am not such a good fly (no pun intended), so I am looking for advice on squads that could counter swarms and still hold their own.
By the way, we only fly up to wave 2 so far, so that is a limiting factor.
Your thoughts, please.
control lists with Ions do well. Reason being swarms make their hay when they can focus fire. They break down when the swarm breaks formation. ioning a couple of ships should break the formation especially if you can ion them into an asteroid. Also you could drop bombs in their path.
Ive found luke and palob to be quite amazing
Luke's always on ability almost always cancels half the damage 2 dice attacks can inflict and can't be blocked
Palob with moldy crow basically becomes luke, but with the added benefit of shooting at token-less targets (which, against ties, is one-shot territory). Helps to have an escort of z-95s so that they don't mob him to death, though.
both have the PS to cover your squadron against tie fighters and z-95s
Edited by ficklegreendiceThanks for the tips. Luke is a good choice, but Palob is wave 3. I am thinking about using ion and maybe ordnance.
A couple of Z95s with Assault Missiles would work nicely, I think. Make one of them Airen Cracken with Swarm Tactics for a good shot at target locking and shooting before the swarm.
palob is wave 3 + most wanted expansion
for Luke, if you can saddle him with predator + r2-d2 you'll be good to go. Canceling half of max damage + regaining shields = frustrated swarm player 
just keep in mind he's not invincible and if your enemy gets a lot of range one shots on him he's still toast
Luke works nicely either behind a formation or flanking in from the side. Ideally, he'll help pop (or just pop) ties and the like before they even get to shoot. By the late game, it's quite possible that luke will be too much to handle if you managed to thin the swarm
Edited by ficklegreendice5 assault missiles, on Z-95's,A wings, etc will melt a swarm in 1-2 rounds if you opponent does not get smart and break them up before engaging. Lieutenant Blount hits even if he misses, guaranteeing all but one of the swarm will take one damage even if you have a bad roll.
If he does break it up, you have to chase all of them down, but they are easier to deal with at that point.
Honestly BBBBZ or most any rebel swarm counters imperial swarms nicely. Sort of boring and generic to play but a rebel swarm tends to focus fire better because they roll more dice. They generally have more hull and can joust an imperial swarm. With a rebel swarm I would fly tight at the opposing swarm and bust it up. It's easier for you to stay in formation with tighter turns and the nice 2 K turn
If you're only looking at a Wave 2 metagame then you may have some serious problems against Swarms. If I recall some people had luck running the three Amigos (Wedge, Luke, Biggs) but it wasn't easy.
Yes, it's wave 2 only. So z95s, Bs, etc are off, unfortunately. I am thinking something like 4 Xs with Luke, or maybe something like XXAA, with missiles. But no idea if this will work. I would like to fly the Falcon, but it goes fast against a swarm.
A-wings are pretty great
Predator Gemmer pisses swarms off something fierce when they try to hurt him past his 4 agility (remember, you only need to be in range 1 of any enemy to trigger it; you don't have to be within range 1 of the attacker) and Jake Farrel is basically mini-Soontir
unless by "Wave 2 only" you mean "no refit" in which case avoid like the plague
Biggs is also pretty helpful against swarms if you know how to position him. Forcing shots on him from range 3 instead of juicer targets at range 2 gets very annoying very quickly
you can fit R2-D2 Luke with Biggs and 2 Rookies with a point to spare (V.I? Draw their fire is pretty great since swarms basically never want to shoot at a regenerating luke, so it's basically 1 point of extra damage mitigation. If you have Biggs, your opponent doesn't even get the choice to shoot luke 
)
EDIT: nvm, just say the "Wave 2 only" restriction.
Boo. Here I was thinking it was finally a land where IG-88A could shine...
Edited by ComradebotYes, it's wave 2 only. So z95s, Bs, etc are off, unfortunately. I am thinking something like 4 Xs with Luke, or maybe something like XXAA, with missiles. But no idea if this will work. I would like to fly the Falcon, but it goes fast against a swarm.
ok i'll bite. Why exactly are you guys behind by 4 waves?
ok i'll bite. Why exactly are you guys behind by 4 waves?Yes, it's wave 2 only. So z95s, Bs, etc are off, unfortunately. I am thinking something like 4 Xs with Luke, or maybe something like XXAA, with missiles. But no idea if this will work. I would like to fly the Falcon, but it goes fast against a swarm.
Here in Brazil, Galápagos is the distributor and they've only released up to wave 2. Official tournaments are, therefore, limited to everything that's been released up to wave 2.